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Ashland, Mass. is a town of 15,000, about 25 miles southeast of Boston. Residents use terms like "sleepy" and "friendly" to describe a quiet enclave that's hardly a foundry for Islamic extremism.

One-time classmates describe Ferdaus as being a smart, talented, and hardly alarming kid. He was heavily involved in the school's music program, singing in the school's choir and playing drums in the band program. Ferdaus was a talented drummer, many recall, and was in a handful of local bands.

"The kid got in trouble sometimes, usually because he was trying to be funny," said Heather Kantrowitz who knew Ferdaus since elementary school. "But he never did anything close to being a terrorist. It's just crazy."

Ferdaus was charged by authorities for plotting to launch remote control grenades packed with explosives into the Capitol and Pentagon. He had been tracked for months by undercover FBI agents posing as Al-Qaeda members.

On Monday, Ferdaus appeared in court to plead not guilty to charges of domestic terrorism.

In the FBI report, Ferdaus allegedly obtained the explosives as well as AK-47 assault rifles from the undercover agents. They also claim he provided them with cell phones rigged to be detonation switches and expressed satisfaction when told that his devices resulted in the deaths of several US marines in Iraq.

All of this seems far removed from what his hometown classmates remember. His most extreme behavior seemed to be a senior year prank where he and two other students poured cement behind doors and started a fire on the school's tennis court. The police were called and he was later charged with vandalism--though Ferdaus denied burning an American flag as the source of the fire.

"I wouldn't say he was popular, but he definitely had friends," Kantrowicz said. "Ashland is such a small town and never had any bullying; people get along and Rez was definitely a part of that."

Though friends don't recall Ferdaus as being openly religious, in the years since his graduation he became more active in local mosques. The Boston Globe reports that Ferdaus was asked to leave a congregation in Roxbury, a Boston suburb, for expressing extremist views.

On a website for one of his former bands, Ferdaus was said to have left the group to become "a devout spiritual practitioner."

Reach Tom Dotan here